


tokyo drifting

by lacunia



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Neil Josten, Blood, Book 3: The King's Men, Guns, Happy Ending, I just wanted to write Neil beating the shit out of people don't mind me, Kind of Butcher Neil Josten, Knives, M/M, POV Neil Josten, Protective Neil Josten, Violence, axes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29556042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lacunia/pseuds/lacunia
Summary: When Neil gets kidnapped after the Binghampton game, he lets Lola and Romero torture him. He lets Patrick lead his father into the room. He lets his legs and body get threatened. But when it comes to his teammates? Nobody threatens them. Nobody.or, Neil grabs the axe.
Relationships: Neil Josten & The Foxes (All For The Game), Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 22
Kudos: 267





	tokyo drifting

**Author's Note:**

> this week was /so/ long I swear. this is just a little thing I've been wanting to write--especially after I wrote Protective!Andrew before--so I hope everyone enjoys!
> 
> I'm unsure of if this is an idea already used, so sorry if it's similar to past fics? I didn't really check, this was just a vent thing lowkey. I hope everyone had a good week :)

##  **Ⅰ**

Prison hasn't changed Nathan Wesninski one bit.

Sure, there's the few lost pounds, but he still has the same expression, the same style of clothes, the same ashen ice eyes. His gaze slowly scans the basement before landing on Nathaniel, turning incredibly dark. Nathaniel wants to tear his gaze away to stare at literally anything else instead, like Lola or Patrick, but he _can't._

"On your feet," Nathan says coldly. His voice makes Nathaniel's whole entire world shake as if thunder rules it's veins. "You know better than to sit in my presence."

Nathaniel tries to not let himself move, but he's standing before he realises, his mind forcing him to see his childhood over and over. Lola snickers at his easy obedience and skirts around the room to stand behind Nathan next to Patrick.

Nathan's feat thud against the ground as he walks towards Nathaniel. He stops a foot away and says, "Hello, Junior."

Nathaniel couldn't speak even if he wanted to. His voice is clogged in his throat, and Nathan's heavy hand settling on his shoulder makes a guttural sound escape him sharply. Nathan tilts his head, and Nathaniel expects the vicious punch that strikes his burn wound, but it doesn't make it any less painful.

His knee's buckle as he falls with the punch, but his father grabs his neck and stops him from falling, shoving Nathaniel into the basement wall by his throat. Nathaniel goes to reach for Nathan's arm, but he stops himself, knowing the consequences, and instead lets his arms fall down to his side, limp.

Nathan tracks his process and gives him a small dead smile. "I said _hello_."

"Hello," Nathaniel says after two tries, staring at his father. It feels like somebody has taken a sledgehammer to his chest, like somebody has taken the ground from his feet, like somebody has turned his mouth to dust and fuzz.

"My son," Nathan says after another heartbeat of staring at each other, "My greatest disappointment in life. Where is my second greatest?"

Nathaniel's heart clenches in pain. "She's dead. You killed her. Don't you remember?"

"I would remember," Nathan says evenly, "I would have savoured the memory and replayed it over my mind as I counted down the days for when I reunited with you."

"You broke her," Nathaniel replies. He ignores the idea that Nathan and his circle had been watching him ever since the countdown started, the thought disturbing and unnerving. "She only made it as far as the California border."

Nathan turns a hooded gaze over to Lola, who says in turn, "I believe him."

Nathan nods and accepts her judgement. He turns back to Nathaniel, who tries to asses his face, searching for any emotion over Mary. There's nothing but violence as his father tightens his hold on Nathaniel's neck, and he squeezes until it feels like the new injuries on his face will burst open.

Nathan goes on to describe what he'll do to him and how long his death will drag out in gruesome detail, and it makes Nathaniel's heart stop and attempt to restart. Lola laughs in delight and Nathaniel is shoved to the ground, and then he's being thrown into the wall, a cleaver a breath from his face, his entire body screaming as he tries to dodge his attackers.

Terror does flow through him, but it's rage that reigns his head; they're _playing_ with him. It makes Nathaniel want to gouge their eyes out, but he forces himself to focus on evading.

Nathan manages to pin him down when Patrick elbows him in the side, and Nathaniel goes down hard. The cleaver is held to his stomach, and Nathaniel freezes and blue meets blue as Nathan gazes down at him.

"I'm not done with the questions yet. When your useless mother ran with you, she stole money from me." Nathan leans forward, and the cleaver starts to dig into one of Nathaniel's bruises, "Where is it?"

Nathaniel stares at him, and says, "It's not your money."

Nathan looks at him with freezing eyes. The cleaver starts to slowly thicken it's dig, but Nathaniel doesn't care. The fear in his stomach is burning into an ugly anger. His father says, "That's not what I asked, is it?"

Nathaniel tries to think. Nathan was let out of prison early, on parole, but he's been suspected as the Butcher for so long that it doesn't make sense for him to earn it. That means the Moriyama's would have paid off some authority to let him out, but not without getting something in return--the money that Mary had stolen when Nathaniel was ten. Nathan needs to get the money, and soon, especially since he's been procrastinating getting Nathaniel if he was doing the countdown, watching from afar.

Nathaniel doesn't realise he's smiling until Nathan wrenches his hair and slams his head into the ground. Nathaniel grins through the blurry pain and Nathan snarls, "Where is the money?"

"Fuck you," Nathaniel laughs. It's hysterical and cracking, full of blood and mania. He curls in on himself and the cleaver disappears and Nathaniel giggles into his broken fingers. "Go die already. You need the money to pay off the Moriyama's, so _fuck you._ "

A kick hits his ribs, and Nathaniel flies into the wall. The pain becomes meaningless, as Nathaniel manages to get up into a sitting position. He continues smiling, and he jabs a finger at Nathan and says, "You're just like me. How disappointed you must be."

Nathan stares at him with a dark expression, and Nathaniel slumps against the wall. His father slowly crouches down in front of him and snatches his face in one hand, squeezing until the smile vanishes. Nathan says in a stygian voice, "I wonder how disappointed your teammates will be when they find out what happens to them was because of you. I hear Baltimore hospital is quite packed with officers right now, attempting to keep them safe."

Nathaniel stops breathing. His teammates? At Baltimore hospital? _Why?_

His father takes pity on him for once and answers his unanswered question with, "Your uncle Stuart decided to team up with the FBI, who figured it'd be a good idea to gather all your teammates up in one spot for leverage and safe-keeping. Stuart will be coming for you soon, most likely to save you, but I figure he'll just arrive to a locked door and your screaming."

Nathaniel says nothing. The world is getting more and more wrong. Nathan continues, "It won't take me too long to get to the hospital. It may take some effort to get past the pigs, but it'll be worth it when I get to carve the skin off of your _new family._ "

Nathaniel tries to struggle, but Nathan sneers and pushes him into the wall again, saying, "I hope it was worth it, Junior."

And then he's gone, leaving with Patrick. The basement door slams and Nathaniel slowly turns his gaze over to a joyous Lola, who steps forward once and then twice.

She coos, "Don't look so sullen, Nathaniel," She reaches him and strokes his hair, crouching down to look at him, "We get to spend more time together. Isn't that fun?"

Nathaniel stares at her. The rage finally outbalances the terror. His father is on his way to hurt his teammates. The air around him starts buzzing like a detonator.

Neil is so angry.

His hand snaps out towards the blunt axe still on the ground. With impossible speed, Neil twists his face up and sticks the axe straight into Lola's head.

Everything freezes.

She doesn't die immediately. The axe is too dull for it to go straight through her brain, and instead she goes cross-eyed, blood seeping down her face, small clumps of brain matter bursting up around the weapon. Her hands raise weakly as if to wrench it from her head, but they fall back into her lap, fingers clenching oddly. Nathaniel watches in silence as her head tilts one way and then the other before Lola slams face-first into the ground, forcing the axe straight through her head.

The force of the concrete and the weapon makes her head smash against the ground like a watermelon and a disgusting smell of cracked flesh and gallons of blood infects the room. Neil stares at her body and then turns his head to the side, violently gagging and vomiting out whatever is left inside of him.

He stares at her corpse out of the corner of his eye, the shock of the situation not settling in. His vomiting turns to dry-heaving as he continues to stare, and before long the numbness in his chest gives way to joy.

Lola's dead. Lola _fucking_ Malcolm is _fucking_ dead!

He shoves his fingers violently into his mouth as a grin threatens to form, stopping the laughter from erupting from him. He waits for his happiness to pass, and then he tugs on his hair to think. Nathan said Stuart will be arriving for him soon, but Neil can't take that chance.

His teammates are in danger. _Andrew's_ in danger.

Neil drags himself to his feet. Everything around him is buzzing.

He starts to make his way to the hospital, ignoring his childhood home around him. Ignoring the cold air of the night around him. Ignoring his freezing bare exposed and inquired skin. Ignoring his burning wounds. None of that _matters._ He _has_ to reach his family.

What would normally be a fifteen minute walk takes him nearly thirty minutes with his state. The hospital reception room and entrance is silent and stock-still, and Neil halts when he enters. A woman's body lays on the ground, along with two police officers. They've all been killed neatly and quickly, blood flowing from their throats.

Neil looks up as a light flickers. He stares at it for a moment, but familiar voices from the corridor cause him to move. He would get one of the officers guns, but it's too late now, so instead Neil quickly slips behind the reception desk, careful not to disturb the woman's body.

He holds his breath as Jackson says, "Heard from Lola yet?" One of his elbows come to rest on the surface of the desk, showing his side profile, and Neil prays he doesn't look down. With his luck, Jackson will have a gun and will shoot Neil between the eyes before he can say, "Fuck."

Romero sighs and there's a rough pause before he answers, "No. Maybe she's having too much fun. You know how she is."

Jackson snorts, and then there's a phone notification sound. It reminds Neil of Nicky's phone, and that makes his chest clench. They have to be okay.

"I gotta go," Romero says. His shoes squeak in the blood as he moves, "Butcher wants me back in the second lobby for animal control. You'll stand guard for the cops?"

Jackson makes an affirmative noise and then Romero's off, and Neil sneaks in a small breath. He glances up to see Jackson's elbow still on the table, and he waits thirty more breaths before he makes his move.

Neil snaps up and grabs the cord of the telephone. Jackson's surprised noise is cut off when Neil wraps it around his neck, stretching it to as far as he can. He attempts to tie it in a knot, but Jackson snags his shirt and rips him over the desk, slamming Neil down onto one of the police officers bodies.

That's a mistake.

Neil snatches the gun off the corpses belt. He knows shooting would only alert the others of his presence, so he wraps his legs around Jackson's waist and flips them. Jackson tries to reach for Neil's neck, but Neil brings the gun down on his head, repeatedly bashing it in. He keeps a hand on the side of Jackson's face so there's no possible way of his head slamming back up and down--creating more noise--and after several hits he lets his hand fall to his side.

Neil shakily holds a hand over Jackson's mouth, and when no air is inhaled or exhaled, he unstraddles the body and makes his way into the corridor. He checks his ammo and is happy to see three bullets in the pistol.

More bodies line the hallways. There's two more officers and what looks to be four more civilians. Neil recognizes none of them, so he continues. Romero said Nathan wanted him in the second lobby, so Neil starts a trek up the stairs, not risking the elevator.

He has to stop half-way to lean against the wall. His vision blurs dangerously, and his breathing is hazed, but Neil forces himself to move when there's an angry snarl and the sound of something hitting the wall.

His grip on the pistol shakes. Neil remembers his mother, her angry voice telling him to _focus,_ and he breathes. His fingers stop shaking, and Neil swears his eyes blaze.

He reaches level two and silently turns into the hallway, taking in the sight. Allison is in the corner of the hallway with Renee next to her, an empty expression coating their faces. Allison is favouring her right leg, and Renee's body seems to be a shield.

Matt and Dan are next to one another, Matt slumped over oddly, holding his chest. An angry bruise runs along the line of Dan's forehead, and Aaron is next to his cousin, Nicky standing in front of him protectively.

They all have equal faces of horror as they gaze down at Kevin, who's crouched at Romero's feet. Romero is holding his gun to Kevin's head, and Neil is moving before he even realises it.

Matt catches sight of him first. His face contorts to an entirely different level of horror, and Neil wonders distantly what he must look like--shirt covered with Lola and Jackson's brain matter, hands coated with blood, one cheek burnt and the other still dripping with globs of scarlet. Neil would normally be horrified about his teammates seeing him like this, but Neil doesn't care, because right now he has to protect Kevin.

Unfortunately, Nicky gasps in shock when he see's him and Romero turns to face him quickly. A range of different expressions ghost over his face, and before Neil lets him decide what he wants to do, he slams into the man with everything he has.

The two slam into the wall and Matt and Dan skid out of the way. Kevin shouts something, but Neil just hears the blood roaring in his ears. He slams Romero's gun away with his own, sending them both flying by accident.

Romero digs furious fingers into the injurie's along his side, and Neil snarls. He see's his teammates at Romero's mercy as he yanks Romero's arm out, tilts his body to the side, and brings his knee straight up, snapping Romero's arm in half.

The man screams and Neil shoves his hand over Romero's mouth to smother the noise. He slips his fingers down and grabs one of the knives that are attached to Romero's belt and stabs it straight through Romero's wrist, the one that belongs to the non-broken arm. The knife goes through his entire wrist and stabs into the wall, leaving one arm limp and broken and the other held up.

Neil removes his hand and just as Romero is about to start screaming, he snatches another knife from his belt and slices his throat. Blood sprays, but Neil steps aside to avoid it, and he watches as the life in Romero's eyes dims, splutters, and then leaves entirely.

He immediately turns to Kevin and demands, "Are you okay?"

Kevin stares at him. He looks back and forth between Romero and Neil and Neil repeats himself, snarling, " _Are you okay?_ "

"Neil," Dan whispers. Neil looks at her. Her and Matt are staring at him. They're sharing looks of dismay, Nicky and Allison and Kevin doing the same. Renee's face is flat and unreadable, and Aaron slowly rakes his eyes from Romero to Neil.

Neil takes a deep breath. His heart threatens to stumble from his chest. Andrew and Wymack and Abby aren't here.

They must be with the Butcher.

Neil turns. He rips the knife from Romero's wrist, causing the body to fall and crumple against the ground. Nicky makes a horrified noise. Neil ignores it and twists the knife experimentally, and he disregards the pang the movement sends up his arms and fingers. He's not sure if it's adrenaline that's been allowing him to go on for this long, but Neil won't test it. He needs to act fast, and he needs to act _now_. 

"Neil."

Neil slips the knife down into his shoe. It's the only secure spot right now if Neil wants to carry his gun, and his sock is thick enough that the knife won't disturb his foot. He walks over to his fallen gun.

'Neil."

He crouches down and checks the ammunition again, double-checking. He glances at Romero's gun but decides to ignore it, and he stands up. His body _screams,_ and Neil tilts over into the wall, his vision dark for a moment. Something warm trickles down his side, and hands grab him and hold him.

"Neil!"

Neil stares at Kevin and Kevin stares back. Neil slowly tracks his eyes over his teammates. Other than Renee, Kevin and Aaron, they're all staring at Romero's dead body, shell-shocked. Neil shrugs Kevin off.

"Neil," Kevin hisses, "Sit down."

Neil stares at him and Kevin flinches at whatever he see's in his gaze. Neil looks over his teammates again and turns to Renee. "Where's Andrew?" He asks.

Renee assesses him. After a pause she says, "They took him, Wymack and Abby to the roof."

Neil breathes in and clenches his fingers. They roar in protest, and Neil looks over the Foxes and says sharply, "Stay here."

" _What?_ " Matt demands, "Are you crazy? No--We're--- _Neil._ What the fuck is going on?"

"Stay. Here." Neil says. His voice is deadly. He will not let them come with him. "I will not let any more of you get hurt. Do not follow me. If anyone else comes for you, use Romero's gun. He has more knives on his belt if you need them."

All of them open their mouths to argue. Neil holds a hand up. Blood slides down his palm, the skin on his wrist a river of red. They fall quiet. Neil says, "Stay here."

Nobody argues. Neil turns and starts for the roof.

His walk up the stairs is painful and borderline torturous, but Neil focuses on Wymack and Abby. On Andrew. He pushes his way up, ignoring the flickering lights, the buzzing silence around him, his echoing footsteps.

The door to the roof is heavy, and there's no way Neil can open it slowly. He presses a finger down to his knife before rechecking his gun again, and then he shoves the door open, and lets his eyes latch on to anything he can see.

The night is dark, the stars and moon concealed by dark clouds ready to crackle and storm. The air is fuzzy and thick as if about to rain, the scent of petrichor nearly sickening. The height of the building is enough to make Neil queasy, and he tries to find Andrew to make sure he's okay immediately.

Andrew's sitting on the ground beside Wymack and Abby, no apparent expression on his face. He's staring hard at Nathan in front of the trio, but his hazel gaze snaps over to Neil as soon as the door wrenches open. His blonde hair has a splash of blood in it, and a bruise is forming next to his eye, one of his hands handcuffed to one of the poles coming through the roof.

Neil wants to run over to him, to check him, to make sure he's _okay,_ but he can't. Not yet.

Wymack's expression is dark and heavy, murder in his poise and face as he looks at Neil's father, and Abby's doing much of the same from beside him. Both of their hands are handcuffed to poles like Andrew. Nathan's back is to Neil, but he looks over his shoulder sharply, spotting Neil. Patrick's standing off to the side near Andrew, and Neil knows what he has to do.

Neil aims the gun straight at Patrick's head. He shoots twice.

Patrick doesn't even have time to look surprised before he's going down, his massive body falling backwards. He stumbles, and his foot hits the back of the ledge, sending him straight over. He disappears from sight, and Neil's breath leaves him in an exhale at the same time.

Neil slowly looks at Nathan, who's eyes have narrowed. His blue eyes have turned to turquoise fire, but Neil's have long turned to a shade darker than what Nathan could ever achieve. He holds the gun up, aims, and shoots.

Nothing happens.

Neil stares at Nathan and Nathan stares back, and Neil shakily looks at his gun. He aims again. Shoots. Nothing.

It's jammed.

At a time like this?

The world is cruel.

Nathan surges forward in fight, seeing Neil's failure. They clash, and Neil's useless gun goes skidding. Neil punches and kicks and screams and Nathan grabs and wrenches and snarls. Wymack starts yelling and Abby starts shouting and when Neil gets a glance of Andrew, his face is pale and his eyes are wild.

Neil turns back to Nathan and punches him in the throat. His fingers burn with phantom fire, but Neil snags his fingers around the key ring on Nathan's belt and throws it over to the others so they can get themselves free anyway.

His distraction costs him though, as Nathan grabs at his knee and pulls it with so much anger Neil hears it pop. Neil cries out and for a second, time stops. Neil meets ugly eyes with his father and see's many, many corpses. His childhood pets. His childhood friends. His mother. Bystanders. Helpless victims. Innocent people. His past. His future.

His family.

Neil pushes with all his might, and Nathan falls over the edge of the building.

For a split second, there's nothing. There's the single idea and thought of _My father is dead,_ but then there's hand around his ankle, and Neil's _slipping_ and seeing everything fall through his fingers. He somehow grips onto the ledge with his hands, but they blister and screech in pain and Neil _screams._

Cold air is forced around him as he holds onto the ledge, carrying his and Nathan's weight with extreme difficultly. Nathan's nails dig into his skin and into his bone, furious and unforgiving as father and son dangle on a dead lifeline.

There's no point. They're going to fall, and Neil's last thought will be how Andrew was right to be so afraid of heights.

Neil's ready to accept his fate when Nathan's grip on his ankle falters slightly as it nudges the knife in Neil's shoe. Neil slowly and breathlessly opens his eyes, looking down at his father who looks...who looks _scared._ It's such a refreshing sight that Neil gathers the strength to slide one hand off the ledge.

" _What are you--?!_ " Nathan yells, but Neil cuts him off. He brings the knife out of his shoe and Nathan freezes.

City lights glint off of the knife.

"Go to hell." Nathan spits.

Neil murmurs, "I'll see you there," and then his father is falling with the knife stabbed through his eye, and Neil's slipping and going down with him.

The corner's of Neil's eyes blur, the city lights turning neon and bright and never-ending. The hospital is so huge, that Neil wonders how long it will take him to fall--if he'll have time to think, or if it'll just be a blink, a flash of something or nothing.

He expects horror and fear to burst in his chest, but there's just. There's something Neil can't name.

Relief, maybe? None of his teammates got too hurt or died. Neil saved them. Neil was one of them. Maybe it's happiness's, contentedness. Neil lived a little before he died. It's not a lot for most people, but for Neil it's enough. It is enough.

Or maybe it's nothing.

Maybe there's just...nothing.

But then there's a hand around his wrist, unrelenting and unseen and _Andrew._ The breath in Neil's chest is long gone, winded from the idea of falling, but Neil thinks he manages to make a breathless sound.

Andrew's face is full of so much emotion Neil's sure he'll have to give him a million truths for it. The blonde snarls and drags him up, back over the edge, and the world tilts and the two latch onto each other like they're one another's heartbeat.

Neil tries to get his breathing under control and grips Andrew's coat with shaking hands, wondering if he's allowed to be touching Andrew so much right now, but the body beneath him is holding him so tight the idea of getting away is painful. Andrew's own hands are shaking as well, and Wymack shouts his name, but all Neil can do is try to _breathe._

"Never." Andrew gasps out, " _Never do that again._ "

"Never," Neil whispers, agreeing. Never again.

##  **Ⅱ**

The Foxes spend the night at the hospital, getting their wounds tended, and Andrew sleeps in Neil's room, the two wrapped around each other. Their teammates are too exhausted and heavy-eyed to talk about Andrew and Neil's relationship, and they all let out their memories and pain against the Ravens in the final game, which they win.

Neil meets Stuart, who's deal with the FBI lets him off the hook from any punishment he'd received for killing Nathan and his men, and the Foxes tell him they understand why he had to kill them, but Neil can tell that they'll have nightmares about Romero.

It's one thing to see a dead body, and another thing entirely to see somebody die--even if they're bad--to your friend's hands.

Neil meets Ichirou and is told that he's officially no longer an investment. His debt was paid off immediately when he took care of Nathan and his men, and adding the locations of the rest of the cash gets Kevin and Jean saved too.

All in all, it's a pretty good feeling, being free.

And it's just a plus that Neil can now finally join in on Andrew and Renee's sparring sessions--and beat the shit out of them, too.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how fighting or guns or knives or axes or the mafia work so don't trust any of this as realistic. also I'm pretty sure Neil is superhuman in this because how tf boy was moving?? I got no idea don't ask me 
> 
> thanks for reading! be sure to check out my other AFTG fics if you enjoyed <33 comments mean the world and I hope everyone has a lovely weekend! also come annoy me on my tumblr at lacuniaa if you wantttt


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